Within the last 3 years artists have begun to see more options available for selling their music digitally. In the early days a band simply needed to send their shiny disc to CD Baby and viola, within a few weeks they were on iTunes. Thankfully TuneCore showed up and offered a much needed alternative.
In the last few years TuneCore has risen to become a power house, and musicians were excited to see newcomers WaTunes, ReverbNation, and Ditto Music had joined the fight. Unfortunately WaTunes is no longer in the world of digital distribution. WaTunes said that the move is to “position WaTunes to focus solely on its social platform and the WaTunes Marketplace, a music store service that enables users to buy millions of songs.
ReverbNation on the other hand is expanded their digital distribution world. Currently they are offering two flat fee distribution alternatives. The first option at $35 USD will give you the basics like all the iTunes, Rhapsody, Naptster, etc. The second option at $60 USD will offer you that plus new fan favorites like Amiee Street and Puretracks. In both cases ReverbNation only takes and annual fee rather than a percentage of the disc sales.
I expect the digital music landscape to keep changing with the rise of subscription models (note: hasn’t really happened yet) in the next few years. But currently if you want your music at online retailers like iTunes, it’s never been easier or cheaper.
Take Control of Your Music
Voyno
4 Comments
It is nice that you have time on your hands Steven. But do you really have to trawl through EVERY mention of Ditto Music leaving your spamming comments. It must have taken weeks.
It would be nice if your company got mentioned on its merits for a change, instead of trying to coat tail the back of other peoples.
Thanks for the mention of Ditto Music. We have recently dropped our prices once more in the quest for cheaper and wider digital distribution.
I welcome all competition, it will lead to more services for unsigned artists, and even cheaper digital distribution
Lee
http://www.dittomusic.com
Im quite surprised you didnt mentioned RouteNote. RouteNote is already the leader for digital music distribution here in the UK and we are growing fast in other countries. It would be great if you could take a look at our FREE music distribution service.
Thanks Steven, we’ll def check it out.
-V
Excellent article. It is sad that we had to phase out digital distribution and we throw our support to all the indie artists and labels who used WaTunes as a base for digital distribution. What turns from a downpoint is becoming an opportunity. Recently, we’ve announced our development with Facebook to launch “Music Store” an essential Marketplace app that enables users to download and buy millions of songs without even having a WaTunes account!
I advise every Facebook user to check it out by clicking on the link below:
LINK: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=107940119224416
Best,
Kevin Rivers
CEO, WaTunes